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Background: Diabetes and hypertension have been identified as risk factors for HCV complications in previous studies. This has sparked the interest in the field of prevention by identifying at-risk individuals and increasing investments for screening among pharmacists. The aim of this study was to screen for risk factors, including age, gender, BMI, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, in Egyptian patients with HCV. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2018 to February 2019, with a total of 1,959 medical records collected. By comparing the patients’ characteristics, variables related to metabolic risk, and body composition measurements, regression models have been established to determine any confounding factors. Results: The prevalence of HCV antibody was 41.0% in men and 59.0% in women. Among the variables included in the regression analysis, age, BMI, and uncontrolled hypertension were found to have statistically significant associations with diabetes in HCV positive cases (p < 0.001). HCV patients ? 40 years old with high BMI were found to have significant associations with both, diabetes and hypertension (p < 0.001). Hypertensive HCV patients were found to have significant associations with gender, age ? 40, and DM (p < 0.001). Conclusion: HCV infection and metabolic disorders have a closed cycle relationship. Reducing the complications of DM has a promising prospective of limiting the complications of HCV.

AimsWe wished to explore associations between intrinsic religiosity, extrinsic (non-organizational (ENORG) and organizational (EORG)) religiosity and hallucinations phenomenology in a non-clinical Muslim population.MethodsWe selected full-time students at Qatar University using systematic random sampling and administered the Questionnaire of Psychotic Experiences online. We modelled the effects of sociodemographic variables, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and religiosity measures, delusions on hallucinations severity and distress/impact in the past week, using structural equation modelling.ResultsDirect-effects models supported ENORG religiosity's protective role against experiencing distress or negative impact on daily function from hallucinations. Intrinsic religiosity had positive indirect-effects on hallucinations distress/impact through depression, anxiety, and through EORG but negative (suppression) indirect-effects on hallucinations distress/impact through ENORG. Younger and married from lower socio-economic class participants had comparatively more severe hallucinations and more distress from them.ConclusionWe present evidence of differential associations between the religiosity types, socioeconomic and cultural groups, and past week distress/impact of hallucinations.Our data support the importance of alignment between religious education and mental health and well-being education.

International audience; Molecular data concerning the prevalence and subtype (ST) distribution of the intestinal parasite Blastocystis sp. remain scarce in the Middle East. Accordingly, we performed the first molecular epidemiological survey ever conducted in the Syrian population. A total of 306 stool samples were collected from Syrian refugees living in 26 informal tented settlements (ITS) subjected or not to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions in North Lebanon, then screened for the presence of Blastocystis sp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction followed by subtyping. The overall prevalence of the parasite was shown to reach 63.7%. Blastocystis sp. colonization was not significantly associated with gender, age, symptomatic status, abdominal pain or diarrhea. In contrast, WASH intervention status of ITS was identified as a risk factor for infection. Among a total of 164 subtyped isolates, ST3 was predominant, followed by ST1, ST2, and ST10. No particular ST was reported to be associated with age, gender, symptomatic status, digestive disorders, or WASH intervention status of ITS. Intra-ST diversity of ST1 to ST3 was low suggesting large-scale anthroponotic transmission. Moreover, comparative analysis of ST1 to ST3 genotypes revealed that the circulation of the parasite between Syrian refugees and the host population was likely limited.

Blastocystis sp. is an enteric protozoan that frequently colonizes humans and many animals. Despite impacting on human health, data on the prevalence and subtype (ST) distribution of Blastocystis sp. remain sparse in Africa. Accordingly, we performed the first multicenter and largest epidemiological survey ever conducted on Blastocystis sp. for this continent. A total of 731 stool samples collected from healthy school children living in 10 villages of the northwestern region of Senegal were tested for the presence of Blastocystis sp. by real-time polymerase chain reaction followed by subtyping of positive samples. Considerable variation in prevalence between villages (51.7 to 100%) was evident with the overall prevalence being 80.4%. Mixed infections were identified in 23% of positive individuals. Among 453 school children with a single infection, ST2 was predominant, followed by ST1, ST3, ST7, ST10, and ST14, this is the first report of ST10 and ST14 in humans. Genetic polymorphisms were evident at the intra-ST level with the identification of numerous ST1 to ST3 genotypes. ST1 showed the greatest intra-ST diversity followed by ST2 and ST3. The prevalence and distribution of STs and genotypes varied among target villages, pointing to several potential infection sources, including human-to-human, zoonotic, and waterborne transmission.

Objectives: This study is aimed at exploring health information seeking behavior among Qatari adolescents and assessing the influence of information obtained from different sources on PA behavior change. In addition, the study aims to identify possible correlates of PA behavior change among Qatari teens. Methods: This is a study involving the secondary analysis of data from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey conducted in 2017 among 1050 Qatari students aged 13-19 years. Self-reported information on demographics, psychosocial factors, PA, and sources used to obtain health information were collected. Main outcome was the attempt to change PA behavior. Logistic regression analysis accounting for survey design information was carried out to examine the association between the outcome and information sources used to attempt PA change, and to find independent predictors for this attempt. The estimated average marginal effects (AME), also known as risk differences, were derived from the results of logistic regression model, to have a sense of the absolute effect size reflecting the difference in the probability of the outcome associated with a change in the explanatory variable, adjusting for all the other covariates. Results: Teenagers in Qatar, especially girls, were not active enough. Nearly 68% of the respondents tried to change PA behavior (65% male versus 72% female), and 46% were physically active (55% males versus 38% females). About 89% of adolescents rated PA as an important topic for them personally. Based on information from interpersonal, traditional, online, and social media sources about 65%, 55%, 51%, and 54% of adolescents respectively attempted to change their PA behavior. Results from multivariable logistic regression showed that teens who used information from interpersonal and online sources to try to change their behavior had 9 times (OR=9.35, 95% CI: 4.15-21.08, P

International audience; Blastocystis sp. is frequently identified in a wide range of animal hosts, including bovids. Because of its burden and zoonotic potential, this parasite has been sought in domestic cattle from various countries, since this livestock may also represent a possible reservoir of human infection. However, epidemiological data regarding the prevalence and ST distribution of Blastocystis sp. in this animal group is lacking in Lebanon. Therefore, faecal samples were collected from a total of 254 dairy cattle raised on 55 farms located in the North Lebanon region and screened for the presence of the parasite by quantitative real-time PCR. The overall prevalence of Blastocystis sp. was shown to reach 63.4% in cattle livestock. Sequence analysis of positive samples indicated the presence of seven STs, with predominance of ST10 (44.0%) and ST14 (36.8%) and lower proportions of ST2 (8.0%), ST1 (7.2%), ST5 (2.4%), ST3 and ST7 (0.8% each). This survey was the first conducted worldwide reporting ST2 and ST7 in domestic cattle and confirmed that ST10 and ST14 represent cattle-adapted STs in view of their high prevalence. Faecal samples from in-contact dairy farmers and patients hospitalised in the same Lebanese gov-ernorate who reported no contact with cattle livestock were also analysed for the presence of Blastocystis sp. The same three STs were identified in both human cohorts, with predominance of ST3, followed either by ST1 or ST2 depending of the group. No other STs, including ST10 or ST14, have been reported. Moreover, even though ST1, ST2 and ST3 were found to be common to dairy cattle and farmers cohorts, only one ST3 isolate showed 100% sequence identity between both hosts. Consequently, the presence and low prevalence of ST1, ST2, ST3, ST5 and ST7 identified herein in domestic cattle, most of which exhibit low host specificity, could be derived from occasional direct exposure to faecal material from human and non-human hosts or by ingestion of contaminated drinking water or food in the enclosure of the farms. Together with the absence of ST10 and ST14 in the human population, these data suggest that cattle play a negligible role as zoonotic reservoirs of Blastocystis sp.